Wisconsin men’s basketball: Ballard officially joins Badgers

On Wednesday, coach Greg Gard announced that Michael Ballard, a 6’5″ guard from Oak Park, Illinois, is officially joining the Wisconsin Men’s Basketball team. Ballard is the final piece to UW’s 2016 recruiting class, following D’Mitrik Trice and Aleem Ford’s commitment in April.

Ballard will be joining the team as a walk-on. As a junior, he averaged 15.9 PPG and shot 46% from the three-point line. Due to an ankle injury throughout his senior season Ballard’s scoring output declined to 10.3 PPG, but the future Badger still shot 39% from the three-point line.

Gard said of Ballard in a press release, “He is everything we are looking for in a walk-on: hard worker, team player, great student and can hold his own on the court as well.”